Tuesday, May 8, 2018

AN EMPTY NEST SYNDROME...












As most stories go, 
there is usually 
a beginning and an ending.

 This story, 
I'm about to tell,
 is a little different.

 We know the 
beginning and the middle 
but the ending 
we may never be sure of...






...as our little family
 of house wrens 
(we are fairly certain that is the specie)
 has flown the coop 
and left an
 (almost)
 empty nest
 behind.





For days
 we have watched them 
fly back and forth,
 some days just one and 
other days the both of them,
 working so hard 
to gather what appeared to be 
bits of twigs and 
small items of food.






Once in awhile
 one would fly in 
with a little something in their beak 
and fly back out 
with something larger and white, 
and then come back 
without it.





Then we would see
 one fly out of the nest
 with a small piece of white 
which did appear to be 
part of an egg shell.
  In between these times,
 one would always bring back 
something for dinner
for the one inside.




The males and females 
look pretty much the same 
so it was impossible to know 
which was which.





We found a pretty good reference 
on the internet
 which stated that 
the male wren is the one 
who builds the nests,
 sometimes building more than one
 in different places,
 even before 
he has found 
a mate.





When he does choose, 
then the female 
will make the decision
 which nest to use and 
she will line it with
 feathers or animal fur
 to make it a 
cozy space.





Sometimes
 when the male is in the process
 of scouting out places 
where he would like to build, 
he might come across 
a nest already occupied 
and decide that is the one he wants 
and will damage the eggs 
and remove them from the nest.






Is that what 
they were doing
 in this little house?
-
 (Although there was never 
any indication 
that this house had been 
used before)
-
 Or were they moving 
their own eggs 
to another location?






They have been gone now
 for a few days 
and when we were sure 
they weren't coming back,
 the Captain looked into the nest 
and saw that one egg was left behind.

 So tiny and so sad. 

We did see 
the neighbor's cat 
on top of the garage roof one day
 while the birds were still here. 
 She wasn't paying any attention
 to the bird house 
that we could tell 
but maybe
 they sensed that it wasn't 
safe to stay.





So, 
our little story began 
and ended in the middle, 
just outside the Secret Garden.

 We thank the little wrens
 for all the fun we had
 watching them go about their 
business of making a home 
while they were here.

 We hope that

 Once Upon A Time

 will start again

in a Kingdom Far, Far Away

and that the little family 
will live

 Happily Ever After.


...Judy...





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12 comments:

  1. I don't know what I love most about this -- the beautiful story; your absolutely perfect illustrative photographs or the fact that this happened and you were able to witness it. All wonderful. I love every detail and I want to believe there is a happy ending out there.

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  2. Love this story today Judy. You tell it so beautifully. Nature can be so tricky. I love that the male makes a few nests for his mate. How sweet is that. Then she gets to pick where she will start their family. So sweet. Sorry that little egg got left behind. Like you said probably too much interference around them to feel safe. Maybe next time.
    xoxo
    Kris

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  3. Such a lovely, bittersweet story. Love the darling photos. Karen

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  4. Hi Judy,
    We just had a similar experience with a mourning dove couple. They renewed a prior scissor tail nest and laid two eggs- sat on them for ten days and then all vanished. I think one of our squirrels got to the eggs. Made me sad! Hope you and yours are all doing well! xo, Tina

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  5. That was very sweetly told, Judy!

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  6. What a cute post...I can relate to the activity and excitment. We have a Robins nest in the arbor. For days we watched her/him? build the nest and then they didn't come back for a few days. Then one day she was back in the nest. But now she gets really angry everytime we walk out...I never heard of the male's making the nest yet alone more than one. Your photos were perfect.

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  7. Aww so sweet, but wish the egg hatched. We have a nesting pair of wrens and I never knew the male scouted for them...very interesting! Janice

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  8. What a cute story! Once a dove laid eggs one of my hanging plant, for the sake of the bird, I stopped watering in the pot. Few days after we watched that the dove was not on the pot anymore. What happened, I had no idea, the dove couple abandoned the eggs, and went off. sad story.. :(

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  9. It is all so interesting about how birds live life. I have no idea about any of it but it makes a great story!

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  10. Dear Judy ..What a beautiful little post... Birds are such harbingers of JOY ... and you've truly spun a happily ever after" tail".... I 've always cherished their little nests... Thanks you for sharing the beauty.., my Friend... Hugs

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  11. Bittersweet story. I've had wrens out my kitchen window and witnessed the same type of activity. I love all your bird collectables. Thanks for linking to Keep In Touch.

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  12. I missed this post so commenting now! Sweet story... we had the same thing happen a few years ago. We had so much fun watching the birds flitting back and forth all day long and I took lots of pictures. Ours were tree swallows I think, the male being a pretty irredescent blue on its back. They were there for a few weeks, flying back and forth, eggs laid, chicks hatched and so much tweeting and crying for their food! We would see them sticking out their little heads with beaks open, waiting for their meal! That went on for awhile, and then one day, all of a sudden, they were gone! I assumed they learned how to fly one night and the mommie whisked them away. That's the happy ending. Hugs.. Marilyn

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Your comments are so special to me...Judy